No place in the future: PMCJ demands anew urgent coal phaseout, just energy transition ahead of UN General Assembly

 

Quezon City, Philippines — On September 9, as world leaders gather in the United States for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) will join the global call to phase out fossil fuels once and for all. Coal and other fossil fuels remain the biggest drivers of climate change.

In 2024, as temperatures broke historical records once again, global temperature breached the ceiling of 1.5 degrees Celsius. But all is not lost yet. An immediate and just transition to clean and renewable energy (RE) can still turn this dire situation around. PMCJ national coordinator Ian Rivera said coal phaseout requires urgent attention to the same degree as the public now closely scrutinizes defective flood-control projects for their utter inability to deter floods.

“While we rightfully fight, ridicule, and condemn corrupt government officials and their anomalous deals with their private contractor accomplices who profit from grossly defective or even ghost flood control projects, we also need the same condemnation of greedy corporations and public officials that enable the continued use of fossil fuels that cause extreme weather in the first place,” Rivera said.

In the Philippines, even as roads turn to rivers and floods submerge houses during heavy rains, coal is making a resurgence despite the moratorium on new coal plants. Through the guise of “committed capacity” coal projects and coal plant unit expansions, coal keeps its toxic grasp on our power supply.

PMCJ has documented communities living around the coal plant in Mauban, Quezon, suffering from high electricity prices, breathing in coal ash flying through the air, and suffering coal plant workplace accidents and deaths, the latter kept quiet by paying off the victims’ families. Worse, the municipality of Atimonan in Quezon is also under threat, as the long-proposed 1,200-megawatt (MW) Atimonan One Energy (A1E) coal plant is poised to rise following the Department of Energy’s (DOE) reaffirmation of the plant’s committed capacity status despite the coal moratorium.

PMCJ Luzon coordinator Erwin Puhawan said, “The coal fight in Atimonan has been ongoing for a long time, and with the DOE’s reaffirmation of the proposed plant’s committed capacity status, they are essentially disregarding the decade-long resistance the people of Atimonan put up against this dirty and environmentally destructive power plant. We have witnessed how coal plants destroy and silence communities, particularly in Mauban and Pagbilao, and we will continue to fight so Atimonan will not be subjected to the same.” In Toledo, Cebu, the situation is similarly alarming.

Residents told PMCJ about the destruction to their livelihoods and health caused by the Therma Visayas Incorporated (TVI) coal plant, such as loss of fishing yields, pollution in their waters, illnesses caused by the coal plant, and the local government’s harassment and denial of service to residents who resist the environmental crimes sanctioned in Toledo. TVI is even preparing for the construction of its 150-MW expansion slated for completion in 2027. To supposedly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, Quezon Power proposed co-firing ammonia with coal at its Mauban plant in 2023.

This drew massive condemnation from environmental groups, who reasoned that it was more costly and more harmful to the environment. PMCJ Senior Energy Officer Larry Pascua stated that co-firing other materials and fossil gas are false solutions to the problem of emissions, hindering the complete transition to clean energy. PMCJ Visayas Coordinator Estela Vasquez said, “These coal plants have to be retired and phased out as soon as possible. We know the extent to which coal poisons communities. In Naga, coal ash has been a long-standing problem for residents, to the point that the dust reaches their homes, posing a risk to the community’s health. Coal and fossil fuels destroy not just the environment but also the people’s health.” Rivera called for urgent funding for the immediate and complete transition to renewable energies and for reparations for all communities affected by dirty coal and fossil fuel plants. He lamented that governments and greedy corporations have profited from dirty fuels for far too long.

“We need to make clear to the leaders of the world that a liveable future for the planet can only be possible when the insatiable greed that controls and powers institutions is entirely eliminated,” he concluded. ### #EndCoal #NoToLNG #NoToFalseSolutons #JustTransitionNow #ClimateJusticeNow